A couple of weeks ago at Harvest Bible Chapel in Denver, Pastor Jeff shared a message in the series Passages that Pump Me Up titled Making a Stand from 1 Kings 18:17-46. I'd encourage you to read these verses, even if you already know the story. It challenged and excited me and I hope it does the same for you.
1 Kings 18:17-46 is the story of Elijah taking on 450 of the prophets of Baal. Both sides set up a bull on an alter, but don't set it on fire. The prophets of Baal go first and call on their god to start it on fire, but nothing happened. Elijah talks some trash to them. They shout louder and cut themselves, but still nothing. Then Elijah takes his turn and has the people soak alter of the Lord with water. He prays and asks God to answer him and bring fire down and turn the peoples hearts back to God. God answers his prayers and burns up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones, the soil, and soaked up all the water in the trench. The people saw this and turned back to God.
Making a stand for the one true God always…
1. Causes conflict. v 17-24
2. Provides opportunities for us to trust God to "show up" with specific answers to our prayers. v 23-25
* For this to happen, we need to trust God and step out in faith.
-What opportunities are you giving God to show up in your life?
-What things will fail if He doesn't show up?
-What are you trusting Him for?
-Where is He leading you?
3. Demonstrates that fervency of routine is different than worship. v 25-29
-If God wasn't in your life, how would it look different?
4. Unashamedly puts God's glory on display. v 30-38
5. Revives the people of God. v 39-40
-Revival starts with God's people turning back to him and living fully for him, a byproduct is that unbelievers will also come to know the Lord.
* Love people, but don't try to please them. It's alright to take a stand. It will cause conflict and that's alright.
-What's God asking you to do?
I feel like God is asking me to go on this journey known as the World Race. One of the things I'm the most excited about is being in situations where things will fail if God doesn't show up. Then when he does show up, nobody can get the credit but God.
